Pink Floyd Guitarist’s Son Apologizes For War Memorial Flap

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In this Thursday Dec. 9, 2010 photo, Charlie Gilmour, the son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, is seen participating in a demonstration in central London against government plans to triple tuition fees. Charlie Gilmour has issued a public apology for climbing on top of one of Britain's most important war memorials and trying to rig a British flag during the violent student protests against rising university fees. He added in a statement Friday Dec. 10, 2010 that he was ashamed for his 'moment of idiocy' and he did not realize the Cenotaph in central London commemorates Britain's war dead. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

The Cambridge University student apologized for climbing on top of Britain’s Centograph, a revered war memorial, during a demonstration Thursday against increasing tuition costs, The Associated Press reported. He said that he did not know that what he climbed on was the monument.

"I feel nothing but shame," said Gilmour, 21. "My intention was not to attack or defile the Cenotaph. Running along with a crowd of people who had just been violently repelled by the police, I got caught up in the spirit of the moment."

According to the AP, Gilmour was one of thousands of young people whose demonstrations in London resulted in attacks against police and vandalism

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A car containing Prince Charles and his wife Camilla was attacked by some of the protesters.

Charlie’s mother, novelist Polly Samson, had previously collaborated with Pink Floyd’s Division Bell record and her husband’s solo album as a songwriter. His father David Gilmour recently oversaw a new compilation album by late Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett.